Paper trimmer

ABSTRACT

A paper trimmer for use in cutting a continuous strip of paper to a desired width as such a strip is conveyed along a path and occasionally moves tranversely to the path can be constructed utilizing a support extending transversely to the path, a carriage movably mounted on the support, guide means for engaging the strip and for conveying transverse motion of the strip to the carriage so as to move the carriage in accordance with such transverse motion and a cutter assembly mounted on the carriage for cutting the strip to a desired width as it moves along the path.

O United States Patent 1 [111 3,728,925 Peters Apr. 24, 1973 [5 PAPERTRIMMER FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Inventor: Charles Peters,Anaheim, Calif- 252,563 6/1926 Great Britain ..83/441 [73] Assignee: Boxnna ds, Inc. Anaheim Calif 418,180 10/l934 Great Britain ..83/441 22 iMan 4 1971 Primary Examiner-Frank T. Yost Attorney-Edward D. OBrian [21]Appl. No.: 121,047

[57] ABSTRACT A paper trimmer for use in cutting a continuous strip83/498 of paper to a desired width as such a strip is conveyed [51] Int.Cl. ..B26d l/24 along a path and occasionally moves tranversely to the[58] Field of Search ..83/373, 425, 428, p can be constructed utilizinga Support extending 83/441, 482 560, 498 transversely to the path, acarriage movably mounted on the support, guide means for engaging thestrip and 56] References Cited for conveying transverse motion of thestrip to the carriage so as to move the carriage in accordance withUNITED STATES PATENTS such transverse motion and a cutter assemblymounted on the carriage for cutting the strip to a 2,316,249 4/1943Johnson ..83/425 X desired width as it moves along the path 1,235,0067/1917 Butler et al... ..83/441 909,854 1/1909 Denison ..83/441 2Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 24 I973 SHEET 1 OF 2 Y Y INVENTOR.

CHARLES L. PETE/2s fan/A20 D. OPE/Au PATENTEUAPR 24 I975 sum 2 OF 2Eon/420 D. OER/AN ATrazA/EY PAPER TRIMMER CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATEDAPPLICATIONS Charles L. Peters, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 68,616filed Sept. 1, 1970 entitled, Machine for Creating Divider StructuresSuch as are Used as Internal Partitions Within a Box.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture of divider structuressuch as are used as internal partitions to hold bottles within a box sothat such bottles are separated from one another, the term paper" isused to designate the nature of the material used in such internalpartitions. The term board is also used in substantially a synonymousmanner to designate the material within such partitions. In a sense bothof these terms are somewhat inaccurate or inappropriate as notcompletely indicating the characteristics or properties of a material asemployed in such a partition.

A material as employed in such a partition should be relatively stiffand yet still should be sufficiently flexible so that it can be bentaround a roller or the like as during manufacture. Such partitions arenormally formed from strips of what may be referred to as cardboard orcardboard-like material. However, they may also be formed out of amaterial such as an expanded polystryne composition having physicalproperties related to the physical properties of cardboard. It is to beunderstood that the terms paper" and board" as employed in thisspecification and in the appended claims are utilized synonymously todesignate any material having physical properties such as thoseindicated in this discussion.

Thus, these terms as used herein do not designate comparatively thin,non-self-supporting sheets or strips of material and do not designatesheets or strips of material which are so thick and inflexible incharacter that they cannot be handled as a flexible or somewhat flexibleweb or strip. To fall within the terms paper and board" employed in thisspecification, a material must, when in strip form, be sufficientlystiff so as to be capable of being handled in such a way that duringsuch handling it will not easily bend yet it must be sufficientlyflexible so that it can be conveniently processed.

Such paper or board as employed in the manufacture of dividerstructuresas indicated in the preceding and/or as employed for other purposes iscommonly supplied by a manufacturer in the form of a comparatively largeroll of a continuous strip of material. Such rolls are comparativelyhard to handle. They are frequently of a greater width than may bedesired for a particular manufacturing operation. Thus, for example, aroll of paper for use in a machine as disclosed in the aforenotedapplication, Ser. No. 68,6]6 may be undesirably wide for use in forminga member in an internal partition. When such an undesirable width isencountered it is necessary to trim the strip of paper contained in sucha roll to a desired width.

As a continuous strip of paper is supplied from a large supply roll, theedges of such a strip of paper frequently are not in a desired precisealignment. Further as such a strip is supplied so that its moved orconveyed along a path it will frequently shift or move transversely tothe path. Such lack of alignment and such movement make it difficult tosatisfactorily trim a strip of paper to a desired width and suchtrimming has been a problem. Various means have of course been suggestedin order to accomplish trimming as herein indicated. Included withinsuch means are structures which have cut off both edges ofa strip ofpaper as such a strip is moved along a path and moves transversely tothe path.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An objective of the present invention is toprovide a new and improved apparatus for use in cutting or trimming acontinuous strip of paper to a desired width as such a strip is conveyedor moved along a path and as such a strip moves transversely relative tosaid path as the result of factors which are unimportant to the presentinvention. Further objectives of the present invention are to provide anapparatus for the purpose indicated: which is comparatively inexpensive;which is comparatively easy to use; which is comparatively effective forits intended purpose; and which is capable of giving prolonged,reliable, relatively maintenance-free performance.

In accordance with this invention, these and various other relatedobjectives of the invention as will be ap' parent from a detailedconsideration of the remainder of this specification are achieved byproviding a paper trimmer for use as described which comprises: asupport extending transversely of the path along which a strip of paperis conveyed or moved; a carriage movably mounted on the support so as tobe capable of being moved along the length of the support between theends of it during movement of the strip transversely to the path; twoedge guide means for engaging the side edges of the strip duringmovement of the strip along the path, these edge guide means beingmounted on the carriage so as to engage the side edges of the strip andtransfer transverse motion of the strip relative to the path to thecarriage so as to move the carriage as the strip moves transverselyrelative to the path; and a cutter assembly means for cutting the stripto a desired width as the strip moves along the path, the cutterassembly means being mounted on the carriage so as to engage and cut thestrip as the strip moves away from the carriage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken at line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a partial side elevational view taken at line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

It will be realized that the accompanying drawings are primarilyintended to be used for explanatory purposes in explaining theconstruction and operation of a presently preferred embodiment or formof a paper trimmer in accordance with this invention. The precisetrimmer shown in the drawings is not the invention, but is only aspecific unit embodying the essential concepts or features of thepresent invention as defined or summarized by the appended claims. Theseconcepts or features can be easily embodied within other somewhatdifferently constructed trimmers or cutters through the use or exerciseor of routine engineering skill.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

In the drawings there is shown a paper trimmer in accordance with thisinvention used in cutting a continuous strip 12 of paper as this term isused herein to a desired width as such a strip 12 is conveyed along apath away from a conventional supply roll 14 through the operation ofconventional powered feed rollers 16. Such rollers 16 grasp or engagethe strip 12 so as to pull it off the roll 14, causing the roll 14 torotate around a bar 18 serving as an axle. Usually the roll 14 will beprovided with a central hub engaging this bar 18. The bar 18, therollers 16, and the trimmer 10 may be mounted so as to be supported on aframework (not shown). If desired, each may be mounted on a separateframework.

When mounted a support 22 forming a part of the trimmer 10 is held so asto extend horizontally transverse to the path of travel of the strip 12caused by the operation of the rollers 16. This support 22 preferably isan upwardly extending U-shaped channel of uniform cross-sectionalconfiguration. This support 22 carries a carriage 26 in such a mannerthat this carriage 26 can be reciprocated or moved back and forth uponthe support 22. The carriage 26 itself preferably includes a downwardlyextending U-shaped channel 28 fitting over the support 22. This channel28 carries a plurality of top support rollers 30 which engage the topedges 32 of the support 22. It also includes or carries a plurality ofbottom rollers 34 engaging the base 38 of the support 22. The rollers 30and 34 are used in sufficient number and are spaced sufficiently farfrom one another so that the carriage 26 can only be moved in a linearpath transverse to the path of travel of the strip 12.

The base 40 of the channel 38 is provided with a slot 42 extending inthe direction of such travel. This slot 42 carries two edge guides 44 ata distance from one another corresponding to the width of the strip 12prior to trimming. Each of these guides 44 includes a bottom plate 46, atop plate 48 and a bolt 50 holding these plates 46 and 48 together onopposite sides of the base 40. It will be noted that the top plates 48are provided with over hung shoulders 52 effectively providing notchesbetween the edge guides 34 and the carriage 26 which carry the initialside edges 54 of the strip 12.

The paper trimmer 10 also includes a cutter assembly 56. This assemblyemploys a bottom plate 58 which is operatively secured to a top plate 60through another bolt 62. The plate 60 carries a small bracket 64 whichin turn supports a bearing 66 serving to hold a shaft 68 parallel to thedirection of travel of the carriage 26 below the plane or surface of thebase 40 of this carriage 26. This shaft 68 rotatably supports a smalldisk-like cutting wheel 70 as shown.

In the cutter assembly 56, the plate 60 also supports another bracket 72which in turn supports a pin 74 extending parallel to the direction oftravel of the carriage 26. This pin 74 extends through a support hole 76carried by another bearing 78 which in turn, extends parallel to thebearing 66. The bracket 72 also carries an overhanging extension 80having bifurcated arms 82 extending above the bearing 78. A pin 84extending between the arms 72 rotatably supports a latching handle 86 insuch a manner that a cam surface 88 carried by the handle 86 can, bymovement of the handle 86, be forced against the bearing 78. When thehandle 86 is in a position as shown it serves to hold this bearing 78 insuch a position that a disk-like cutting wheel 90 corresponding to thewheel 70 carried by a shaft 92 extending through the bearing 78 ispositioned relative to the cutting wheel 70 as shown. In this operativeor closed position, the bearing 78 is forced away from the bearing 66 upagainst the cam surface 88 by a small coil spring 94 biased between thetwo bearings 66 and 78.

In this closed position the larger surfaces 96 of the wheels 70 and 90overlap one another slightly as shown in FIG. 3 and are located insubstantially the same plane. In this closed position the beveled edges98 of these wheels 70 and 90 both lead to or are positioned with respectto the surfaces 96 so that the junctures of these surfaces 96 and theedges 98 will serve as cutting edges. When the wheels 70 and 90 are inthis closed position, they engage the strip 12 so as to cut this strip12 to a desired width corresponding to the placement of the wheels 70and 90 relative to the edge guides 44. The relative position betweenthese edge guides 44 and of the cutter assembly 56 can of course beeasily changed by loosening the bolts 50 and 62 and moving the edgeguides 44 and the cutter assembly 56 to a desired location. This makesit possible to use the trimmer 10 with strips 14 of various widths andto trim the strips passing through the trimmer 10 to various desiredextents.

It is believed that the manner in which the trimmer 10 is set up for usewill be essentially obvious. With the handle 86 in an open position, thestrip 12 will be inserted between the guide edges 44 and the cuttingwheels 70 and 90 and will be inserted so as to pass between the feedrollers 16. The handle 86 may then be returned to a vertical position asshown and the feed rollers 16 operated. During such operation thefriction between the strip 12 and the wheels 70 and 90 will causerotation of these wheels.

In the use of the trimmer 10 these edge guides 44 will engage the edgesof the strip 12 in such a manner that the inherent physicalcharacteristics or properties of the strip 12 will convey through theguides 44 to the carriage 26 any shifting of the strip 12 transverse tothe path of this strip. As a consequence of this, the carriage 26 willbe moved in accordance with any travel or movement of the strip 12transverse to the normal direction or movement of the strip 12, as aconsequence or direct result of such movement.

During movement of the carriage 26 described, the cutter assembly 56will of course move back and forth with the carriage 26 and will alwaysremain at a fixed relative position with respect to the edge guides 44.As a consequence of this, the strip 12 will be slit, cut or trimed to adesired fixed width as this strip 12 is pulled through the paper trimmerby the operation of the feed rollers 16. Hence, these feed rollers 16supply the power for the operation of the trimmer 10. This is consideredsignificant since these feed rollers 16 are normally required for otherpurposes than the operation of a paper trimmer 10 in an apparatus.

lclaim:

1. A paper trimmer for use in cutting a continuous strip of paper to adesired width as such a strip is conveyed along a path and movestransversely relative to said path which comprises:

an elongated support extending transversely to said path,

a wheeled carriage movably mounted on said support so as to be capableof being reciprocated on its wheels along the length of said supportbetween the ends thereof as said strip moves transversely relative tosaid path, said carriage having a top on which said strip of paper restsas it moves along said path,

two edge guide means for engaging the side edges of said strip duringmovement of said strip along said path, said edge guide means beingmounted on said carriage so as to engage and overlie the side edges ofsaid strip above said top in order to transfer transverse motion of saidstrip relative to said path to said carriage so as to move said carriageas said strip moves transversely relative to said path,

a cutter assembly means for cutting said strip as said strip moves alongsaid path, said cutter assembly means being mounted on said carriage soas to engage and out said strip as said strip moves away from saidcarriage.

2 A paper trimmer as claimed in claim 1 wherein: said cutter assemblycomprises coacting cutter wheels, one above and the other below saidpath, said cutter wheels are flat, disk-like wheels having beveledperipheries and said cutter wheels are rotatably mounted in saidassembly so that the largest sides of said wheels overlap one another,

one of said wheels is mounted so as to rotate in a fixed positionrelative to said carriage and the other of said wheels is movablymounted relative to said carriage so as to facilitate the use of saidpaper trimmer,

said cutter assembly includes cam clamp means for clamping said other ofsaid wheels relative to said one of said wheels in an operativeposition.

1. A paper trimmer for use in cutting a continuous strip of paper to adesired width as such a strip is conveyed along a path and movestransversely relative to said path which comprises: an elongated supportextending transversely to said path, a wheeled carriage movably mountedon said support so as to be capable of being reciprocated on its wheelsalong the length of said support between the ends thereof as said stripmoves transversely relative to said path, said carriage having a top onwhich said strip of paper rests as it moves along said path, two edgeguide means for engaging the side edges of said strip during movement ofsaid strip along said path, said edge guide means being mounted on saidcarriage so as to engage and overlie the side edges of said strip abovesaid top in order to transfer transverse motion of said strip relativeto said path to said carriage so as to move said carriage as said stripmoves transversely relative to said path, a cutter assembly means forcutting said strip as said strip moves along said path, said cutterassembly means being mounted on said carriage so as to engage and cutsaid strip as said strip moves away from said carriage.
 2. A papertrimmer as claimed in claim 1 wherein: said cutter assembly comprisescoacting cutter wheels, one above and the other below said path, saidcutter wheels are flat, disk-like wheels having beveled peripheries andsaid cutter wheels are rotatably moUnted in said assembly so that thelargest sides of said wheels overlap one another, one of said wheels ismounted so as to rotate in a fixed position relative to said carriageand the other of said wheels is movably mounted relative to saidcarriage so as to facilitate the use of said paper trimmer, said cutterassembly includes cam clamp means for clamping said other of said wheelsrelative to said one of said wheels in an operative position.